Major Michelangelo Monday, inventor of ingenious military machines, retires to his family estate on the Mediterranean Sea. One day while wandering along the shore he spies a bare-breasted mermaid who captures his heart. Inspired, the major and his faithful aide-de-camp, Corporal Tuesday, devise a submarine of sorts. The venture into the mermaid's realm is a failure, so the major, still desperately in love, converts himself into a merman. He marries, only to discover within a few months that passion has cooled, his in-laws are quarrelsome, and it's a bother swimming to the surface for air. The major returns to land--with his tail still attached. This sardonic and cynical tale is embellished with illustrations of comically thin, brilliantly costumed figures that are masterpieces of European graphic art. The pages are further decorated with calligraphic designs and delicate drawings that are a pleasure to behold. This sophisticated fable is a cross between Don Quixote's mad passion and Baron von Munchausen's fantastic adventures, and although it has the appearance of a picture book, its appeal is to older readers with a taste for the artfully absurd.